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Back The Marriage Trap: A completely addictive psychological thriller Save as PDF
Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. Books by Sheryl Browne
  3. Dedication
  4. KARLA
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Thirty-Four
  39. Thirty-Five
  40. Thirty-Six
  41. Thirty-Seven
  42. Thirty-Eight
  43. Thirty-Nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-One
  46. Forty-Two
  47. Forty-Three
  48. Forty-Four
  49. Forty-Five
  50. Forty-Six
  51. Forty-Seven
  52. Forty-Eight
  53. Epilogue
  54. The Affair
  55. Hear more from Sheryl
  56. Books by Sheryl Browne
  57. A Letter from Sheryl
  58. The Babysitter
  59. The Second Wife
  60. Acknowledgements

He’d felt bad lying to her, but he’d had no choice but to deny everything, particularly being in the girls’ room that night, inebriated to the point of unconscious. How was he supposed not to? The police would have been involved. He would have been ruined. They might even have taken Karla away. Karla… He regretted, too, that he’d had to convince her she might end up on her own in care. If she loved them and wanted to stay with them, she couldn’t tell tales on him, he’d warned her. It hadn’t been his proudest moment.

A deep sadness washed over him as he recalled the watchful, suspicious gaze he’d often seen in Karla’s eyes thereafter. Robert tried to consign it to history as he let himself through the front door, out of the rain. He supposed Karla would take the opportunity while she was here to accuse him of being ruthless and controlling where Jason was concerned. He was ruthless, to a degree. He’d had to be. Building a multimillion-pound company up from scratch hadn’t allowed him the luxury of indulging his emotions. As for indulging other people’s, that was definitely a recipe for failure. Robert simply didn’t have the patience for sob stories. He preferred to focus on the practical and move forwards, unlike Jason, who seemed content to idle in the slow lane. The man hadn’t got a business bone in his body. God only knew what Karla had seen in him, why she’d become involved with him. Robert dearly wished that she hadn’t. He’d tried everything to convince her not to go through with the wedding. Nothing had been able to dissuade her.

Robert hadn’t doubted Karla had fancied herself in love with him. He’d very much doubted Jason’s motives in marrying her, however. The more he’d tried to talk sense into him, pointing out the idiocy of tying himself down at such a young age, the more he’d appeared to dig his heels in. He’d been determined to go against Robert’s wishes. More than determined. A man who’s successful in business never mistakes a challenge in another man’s eyes.

Assuming it was Karla’s family fortune he was attracted to, Robert had made a fundamental mistake, one he’d kicked himself for every day since. He could see the cocky bastard now, his dark eyes narrowed quizzically as he’d handed him the cheque, for a substantial sum of money – his, if he did the sensible thing regarding his own future and got out of Karla’s life.

Studying the cheque, Jason had shaken his head and emitted a scornful laugh, as if money meant nothing, and then, ‘Go fuck yourself,’ he’d said, locking eyes full of contempt levelly on his.